This week is not a great week for the travel world! There are 4 pretty good travel perks that are expiring in the next few days / weeks, and you’ll want to act now to take advantage of them before you can’t.
In order of their expiration date, they are
- British Airways devaluation – starts April 28th
- Lounge Club benefit of Chase Ink going away – as of April 30th
- IHG hotel category changes – as of May 1st
- Club Carlson Bonus Award (“Last night free”) – through May 28th
British Airways devaluation
British Airways announced last month that they would be modifying their Avios program in a couple of different ways, as of April 28th. Thankfully you will still be able to book short-haul flights in the US for only 4500 Avios (what I typically use Avios for), but there are several awards that you’ll want to book TODAY!
(SEE ALSO: Impending British Airways devaluation this week! Here’s what you DO and DO NOT need to do)
(SEE ALSO: 6 winners and losers with the British Airways devaluation)
(SEE ALSO: I just booked a flight that I won’t be able to book next week!)
Lounge Club benefit of the Chase Ink card going away
Goodbye, Lounge Club!
Another shot across the bow is the removal of the Lounge Club benefit of the Chase Ink card. I, like most if not all Chase Ink cardholders got a letter in the mail recently letting us know that the Lounge Club benefit is going away as of April 30th.
(SEE ALSO: Airport Lounge Review: The Club at ATL and how to get in for free)
(SEE ALSO: ACT NOW: Lounge Club benefit of the Chase Ink card going away)
Here’s Carolyn enjoying herself at The Club at ATL – which we got into for free thanks to our Lounge Club / Ink benefit
IHG hotel category changes
IHG announced that 493 hotels were changing category as of May 1st back when they announced overall changes to their hotel program including expiration of points, but they wouldn’t tell us which hotels were changing.
Either they bowed to social pressure, or meant to announce the list all along, but last week they announced which of the hotels were changing.
In addition to a sortable table, I also made up a map of where all the changes are. Some hotels are going up by 2 categories (10,000 points / night!), so if you have your eye on any of those hotels, you’ll want to book them before they go up in price on May 1st.
Club Carlson Bonus Award night going away
May 28th is when Club Carlson is removing the popular Bonus Award night feature of their credit card, where the last night of any award stay was free. So if you booked your award stays in 2 night increments, that meant that you were essentially getting a Buy 1 Get 1 Free on ALL your stays, doubling your points!
This is probably one of the best travel deals out there, so it stinks that it’s going away. So if you have a stash of Club Carlson stays that you want to make, you only have a few weeks to make them! (in 2 night increments, of course!)
(SEE ALSO: What’s the best rewards deal out there?)
(SEE ALSO: How many points can you get from 1 Club Carlson stay?)
One thing to remember is that devaluations like this are inevitable. Miles and points are not a “buy and hold” currency – you need to “earn em and burn em“. My philosophy is to take advantage of the deals that are available, when they’re available, and then when they go away (as most of them inevitably will), just move on to the next best deal.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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